Jordan Johnsson

Jordan Johnsson

10.37
100m
21.40
200m
Wind-legal sophomore-season bests

10.37 winning SCVAL Finals · 21.40 winning CCS Finals · wind-legal, sophomore season

Sprinter · Student · Musician · Builder
Palo Alto High School, Class of 2028

Citizenships: Jamaica  ·  United States  ·  Germany
Email Instagram @JordanJohnsson race video Athletic.net

01

About Me

I'm a junior at Palo Alto High School and a sprinter for Paly and the East Palo Alto Greyhounds. I hold my school's all-time 100-meter record. Off the track I play varsity soccer, teach piano to younger students, speak German at home, and build things as a hobbyist tinkerer: code, hardware, and an AI tools hub I designed and shipped myself. I like competing, I like learning, and I like finishing what I start.

Jordan walking on the track between workouts

02

My Values

What I hold myself to, on the track and off it.

1Compete

Love of competition

I am at my best with something on the line: a final, a striker's chance, a science fair judging table. Competition is where I focus hardest.

2Grow

Steady growth

My track times dropped race by race because I kept showing up. I brought my English from below grade level in middle school to advanced standing. Progress is a habit, not an event.

3Give back

Community

Four years as a Kiva.org donor, a leukemia research fundraiser supporter, and a paid piano coach for students ages 7 to 15. Teaching younger kids is one of the best parts of my week.

4Build

Curiosity

Five years of Greene Scholars Program science fairs, computer programming, AI prompting and multi-model AI exploration. I taught myself a backflip the same way I learn everything: try, fail, adjust, repeat.

Jordan doing a backflip on the beach at sunset
Shevon SalmonQuote I live by

“Slow motion is better than no motion.”

This one reminds me that little steps matter more than not taking any steps in the first place. Progress counts even when it is slow.

Gunna One of Wun album coverQuote I live by

“time reveals be careful what you wish for”Gunna, song title

It is a song, but I find it humbling. Gunna is explaining why it is important to stick to your roots, and that is something I think about a lot.

In three words

I asked a few people to describe me in three words. Here is what they said.

Liamhumble · respectful · determined
Maevedevoted · caring · dependable
Elafunny · proud · patient
Phevosoutgoing · honest · genuine
Elizerkind · respectful · caring
Shanleyinfectious smile · athletic · determined
Gisellefunny · confident · empathetic
Adriengood man · somebody to compete with · reliable

03

Track & Field

Palo Alto High School varsity · East Palo Alto Greyhounds · Paly all-time 100m record holder · nationally ranked for the Class of 2028

10.37100m · SCVAL Finals · Paly all-time recordView on Athletic.net
21.40200m · CCS Finals · wind-legalView on Athletic.net
Sprinters driving through the middle of a 100m race in a packed stadium
School record

Paly all-time 100m record holder

Broke Palo Alto High School's all-time 100-meter record at the Saint Francis Invitational (10.49, March 2026), then lowered it to 10.44 winning the seeded 100m at the Arcadia Invitational, and again to 10.37 at the SCVAL-DAL Finals.

Rankings

Nationally ranked

Ranked 10th nationally and 3rd in California in the 100m for the Class of 2028 (April 2026, The Paly Voice).

USATF

Junior Olympics

7th place, 100m (15-16 division) at the 2025 USATF National Junior Olympic Championships. 1st place in the 100m and 200m at the 2025 USATF Region 14 & Pacific Association Junior Olympic Championships.

Walking the curve of the track after a workout
The stadium on meet day

04

Sports

Varsity starting striker in soccer and a very competitive swimmer for seven years growing up: track may be my headline, but I've been an athlete my whole life.

Jordan in his Palo Alto soccer kit with the ball at his foot
Soccer

Starting striker

Varsity starting striker for the Palo Alto High School Vikings (2026 season). Starting JV striker in 2025, averaging 2.4 goals per game. Came up through Palo Alto Soccer Club. Lifelong fan, and my favorite club is Bayern Munich.

Jordan swimming butterfly between the lane ropesSwimming

Seven years of very competitive swimming

I swam very competitively from age 6 to 13: seven years in the pool before track took over. Strongest events in 2022: 100 IM in 1:27.85 and 100 Fly in 1:29.25.

05

STEM & Greene Scholars Program

I'm a hobbyist tinkerer: five consecutive years of Greene Scholars Program (GSP) science fair projects, engineering builds, a C-SPAN StudentCam documentary, my own AI tools website, and coding and hardware projects around the house.

Greene Scholars science fairs

2026: 1st Place

"Botanic Glow"

1st place, GSP Science Fair. Evaluated the chemical efficacy of commercial hair treatments on follicle integrity and moisture retention, using quantitative analysis to identify the most effective formulations.

2025: 2nd Place

Hair products comparison study

Compared natural hair products, including argan and castor oil, on hair health and moisture retention to determine which ingredients performed best.

2024: 2nd Place

"Juggernaut"

Applied the physics of center of gravity to build a solution for juggling a weighted soccer ball.

2023: 1st Place

"Flower Power"

1st place, GSP Science Fair. Co-designed a model car powered by a wind turbine to run lights and a fan, showing how small sustainable modifications can cut vehicle energy use.

2022: 3rd Place

"Cube Lube"

Tested which lubricants most effectively speed up Rubik's Cube solves: a first hands-on lesson in viscosity.

Beyond the fair

Builds & journalism

Produced a 2026 C-SPAN StudentCam documentary examining Palantir Technologies, government data use, and civil liberties. Past builds include an accessible human-sized Connect 4 game with a balancing seesaw for wheelchair-bound players. Current interests: computer programming, AI prompting, and multi-model AI exploration.

Raspberry Pi, ESP32 microcontroller boards, and a calculator laid out on the benchHome lab

Projects around the house

A Raspberry Pi 5 runs my Home Assistant smart-home setup and Pi-hole network-wide ad blocking, with a Raspberry Pi Zero alongside it. ESP32 microcontrollers are currently working as Wi-Fi extenders around the house. Lately I've gotten into 3D printing too: I can print custom casings now, so my boards and projects stay protected.

In progress

"Jarvis" voice assistant

Reviving a Jarvis-style voice assistant wired to a Telegram bot (@intuitionghebot) using a free LLM API.

Intuition AI home pageShipped project

Intuition AI

An AI tools hub I designed, built, and shipped myself: my own corner of the internet for AI tools and exploration.

Visit the site ↗

06

Photography

I've always been drawn to video and photo editing. I love experimenting with LUTs that inspire me, and part of what fascinates me is color work that properly embraces different skin tones: most phone cameras are still tested mostly on white skin, so getting every tone right is the interesting part.

Night stadium lights casting colorful beams into the sky
Formula 1 car racing past the grandstand
Ancient pyramid rising under a clear blue sky
Golden hillside under a clear sky
Sunset over the ocean from the beach
Granite valley walls above the forest
A still lake beside a forested mountain slope
Rolling green field and tall cypress trees
Silhouettes on the beach at dusk
Snow-capped mountains from the airplane window
A road winding through snowy mountains from above
Friends on a stone overlook above the valley
Boats pulled up on a turquoise-water beach
Turquoise water meeting the jungle canopy from above
Sunset over the water from a rocky shore
The sun dipping toward calm water
A golden sky over the coastline
Hiking through tall green under a bright sky
A blue dragonfly resting on sunlit stone

Swipe or scroll through the gallery: tap any photo to open it full screen.

07

Piano & Trumpet

Piano since kindergarten and a paid piano coach for about four years; trumpet for three years. Music is my longest-running commitment: longer than any sport.

Piano

Player and paid coach

Playing since kindergarten. For about four years I've worked as a paid piano coach, tutoring students ages 7 to 15 on practice habits and piano skills. Songs played include "Someone Like You" by Adele and "Circles" by Post Malone.

Jordan in a black suit beside a grand piano at a piano recital
Trumpet

Three years

Working on note reading and embouchure. Most recent piece: "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder.

Jordan playing trumpet close up, bell toward the camera, in a gray hoodieJordan standing with his trumpet at restJordan playing trumpet in side profileJordan playing trumpet with the bell facing the camera

08

Language

German lessons since first grade and spoken with my family at home, plus five years of Spanish at school.

Since 1st grade

Lessons and home life

German lessons since first grade, and I speak German with my family. Conversational speaker: I can follow German family films like "Willkommen bei den Hartmanns" without subtitles.

5 years

Spanish

Five years of Spanish: three in middle school and two at Palo Alto High School, up through Spanish 3: building a third language alongside German and English.

09

Influencers in My Life

People I look up to: and the substantial contributors to my everyday life. I would not be me without them.

Gunna
Music artist

Gunna

He came back from a very low point in his life and rebuilt himself: focused on self-improvement instead of the past, made his future brighter, and put his health first. That turnaround is why I look up to him.

Jamal Musiala in a Bayern Munich shirt
Bayern Munich

Jamal Musiala

He broke into Bayern: my favorite club: at a really young age. I watched his very first game for the team and was convinced on the spot that he was my favorite player, even while he was still a young guy and not the best on the team. A year later he skyrocketed into one of the best players in the world.

Shevon Salmon
Tech creator

Shevon Salmon

A tech reviewer who started from the bottom in Jamaica and climbed his way to Canada virtually by himself: now a millionaire. His cinematography and photography inspire me, and he taught me what I know about camera presets.

Family

Sara Woodham

My mom. We don't always agree, but I know she never makes me do things just because she feels like it: she always has a clear vision for what's best for the people she loves.

Family

Lars Johnsson

My dad. Patient with me like nobody else: he gives time he could be spending anywhere else to help me finish my work, and he's always positive and motivated to help.

Family

Kobi Johnsson

My brother. The most motivational person I know: his education is still recent, so he can jump in with specific help when I need it, and he always has my back when I'm having a hard time communicating with others.

Family

Maia Johnsson

My sister. Her personality is a big part of why I don't take things too personally, and it's shaped who I am today. At the end of the day we're super close, and I appreciate everything she's ever said and done for me.

Coach

Michael Davidson

My track coach at Palo Alto High School. He keeps me on track, gives me talks that go deep, and has endless patience. He's close with my whole family, and he pushes me to be the best I can be.

Coach

Tom McRae

My swim coach, head of SOLO Aquatics. He's put up with me in more ways than I can count over the years, and his patience is something you couldn't pay for. He taught all my siblings and me to swim, he was one of the most influential people in my life up through eighth grade, and he always makes me feel welcome to come right back to the pool.

Teacher

Katja

My German teacher. Always flexible with my busy schedule, a great teacher when it comes to my personal education, and she understands how I focus.

Teacher

Diane Boxill

My piano teacher. She's taught me virtually everything I know about piano to this day, and she gave me the chance to pass it on: I've taught three students of my own, two of them right now. She got me from dreading lessons to sprinting over to them.

Coach

Eric Stewart

My track coach, head of the East Palo Alto Greyhounds. He was always hard on me and my teammates, but as we got into high school he softened up: he saw the discipline he'd been enforcing finally being returned, and he showed his soft, sweet side. Without him I wouldn't have made it to the Junior Olympics or met all the friends I've made at Bay Area track meets.

10

References & Press

The records I've broken, plus coverage and official profiles, exactly as published.

Records

School record

Paly all-time 100m: 10.37

Broke EJ Floreal's 10.52, which had stood for 13 years, with a 10.49 at the Saint Francis Invitational (March 2026); lowered it to 10.44 winning at the Arcadia Invitational, then to 10.37 at the SCVAL-DAL Finals.

CCS all-time record

Fastest 100m in CCS history (tie): 10.37

The 10.37 at league finals ties Rubin Williams' all-time Central Coast Section record, set in 2002.

CCS sophomore record

Sophomore 100m: 10.37

The same race also reset my own CCS sophomore 100m record.

CCS freshman record

Freshman 200m: 21.95

At the 2025 DAL Finals, breaking Ronnie Drummer's 21.99 that had stood since 2001.

SCVAL record

League 100m: 10.37

The 10.37 broke the SCVAL record of 10.66, set by Los Gatos' J. Isaac in 1993.

RustBuster record

RustBuster Invitational 100m: 10.65

Stadium record at Monta Vista (March 2026, wind-aided), breaking Kurtis Lee's 10.80 from 2019.

In the press

Jordan crouched at the track before a workout
The Paly VoiceSophomore sprinter breaks records and wins at Arcadia Invitational

Feature on the Arcadia win and the school record, with national and state class-of-2028 rankings.

Jordan between track repetitions
Verde MagazineRunning Through Records: The Athlete Setting Paly History

Long-form profile on the record-breaking season and the road from soccer to track.

Jordan focused before a race in his Paly uniform
Viking MagazineUnderclassmen of The Year

Named among Paly's underclassmen of the year for the historic 2026 track season.

World AthleticsOfficial athlete profile

International governing body profile with recorded results.

Athletic.netFull results history

Complete meet-by-meet results across every season.

Fun fact

I collect jerseys. Every time I travel to a different country I get a jersey and bring it home: and wearing one opens up conversations. Even if you know nothing about soccer, you usually know what your own country's jersey looks like, so it ends up being the perfect icebreaker with someone from that country.